Black Mage (黒魔道士) is a recurring job class from the FINAL FANTASY series, who can cast offensive spells, but with weak combat skills and poor stamina. Black Mage is an expert in Black Magic, which involves both casting destructive doomsdays spells, and many negative side effects (poison, sleep, slow etc.). The Black Mage that appears in Super Smash Flash 2 as a playable character has a design from the first game in the series: FINAL FANTASY.

Character description

Black Mage is not a generic sole character in the FINAL FANTASY franchise, but it is, in fact, one of the most iconic job classes from said franchise. In most of the game, Black Mage is a magic user specializing in attack magic, Black Magic. Their weapons are generally restricted to rods and daggers. They are usually depicted wearing distinctive costumes consisting of a blue or black robe and a large conical, wide-brimmed hat which obscures their face, with two yellow eyes shining from within the shadow. The outfit of the Black Mages is similar to the generic appearance of a wizard. In the original NES game, the Black Wizard lacked the hat and obscured face that became the defining features of the Black Mage. This was changed in the WonderSwan remakes and FINAL FANTASY Origins so that he still looks like a traditional Black Mage after becoming a Black Wizard. In FINAL FANTASY IX, the Black Mage Village is a forested hamlet where many mass-produced Black Mages have become self-aware. FINAL FANTASY IX is the only game that features Black Mages as a distinct race, although the Yukes of FINAL FANTASY Crystal Chronicles are very similar in their inhuman appearance and magical ability.

The Black Mage is available as a class in FINAL FANTASY, FINAL FANTASY III, FINAL FANTASY V, FINAL FANTASY X-2, FINAL FANTASY XI, FINAL FANTASY XII International Zodiac Job System, FINAL FANTASY Tactics, and FINAL FANTASY Tactics Advance. In the English localization of FINAL FANTASY Tactics, Black Mages were called Wizards. In FINAL FANTASY, Black Mages can be upgraded into Black Wizards. Other black mages throughout the series are Rydia (who is also a Summoner and loses the ability to cast White Magic halfway through the game) and Palom of FINAL FANTASY IV, Vivi Orunitia from FINAL FANTASY IX (who also carries several of the distinct characteristics of a Black Mage), Lulu from FINAL FANTASY X and Kytes (FINAL FANTASY XII: Revenant Wings).

In the Super Smash Flash series

In Super Smash Flash 2

Black Mage appears in Super Smash Flash 2 as a playable character. Released in demo v0.7, Black Mage was the first unannounced character to appear in SSF2 outside the original plan by developers. He mainly uses devastating Black Magic to combat his opponents, but as an extra, he also uses Summon Magic, as seen in his "Goblin Punch" and "Chocobo Kick" attacks. Black Mage is a starter character in other demos. Black Mage is currently ranked 32nd of C- tier on the current tier list.